You Know, This Is A Pretty Classy Apology

     Nothing like what that primitive Addison "Joe" Wilson (R-SC) provided.  In fact, his outburst was really only, at best, a half-truth.  Anti-immigrant words were in the bill, but there wasn't anything new in the way of enforcement.  It's a flat out lie to say that there would be no enforcement, since there are many, many Federal agents charged with handling fraud by illegal immigrants.  To prove Joe Wilson to be the gibbering idiot that he is, the Democrats changed the bill to add enforcement.  What sort of lesson did we learn?  Obama should have just shut that stupid mother fucker down the second he opened his fat, ignorant mouth.

Researcher and Video Artist Suggestion: More Appropriate Times for Joe Wilson to Yell "You Lie!"

     I'm sorry I'm so incompetent and ill-prepared for this, I'll practice some tonight, the idea is to put Joe Wilson yelling "You Lie!" after each of the following lies, of which the embedded video is just a reasonable, but not entirely exceptional example.  If anyone submits audio of lies I'll post them on my website, a page especially dedicated to the unedited audio and video of George Walker Bush administration lies to get Americans to go to war.

My #1 Issue I Have Comes To A Head:

"The opposition, led by Tzipi Livni, accused Netanyahu of trying to perform some sort of conjuring trick, trying to have a freeze and construction at the same time." -- Al-Jazeera

"The settlers of Judea and Samaria should ask themselves why the settlements are not being taken off the agenda. It's hard to find an issue that unites the entire world more than opposition to the settlements." -- Ha'Aretz

"Israel's decision to approve the construction of over 450 new settlement units nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when and if announced, will have," -- Saab Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator

     George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to the Middle East, will be back in Israel in a week.  Netanyahu plans to time his pseudo-freeze with the meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month. Mahmoud Abbas has said, as a result of the settlement announcement, he will not meet with Netanyahu on the side at the UN meeting.


     So, will Obama cut off the billions of aid America sends to Israel each year?  Will he cut off at least the billion dollars of the three billion that is military aid?  Only if he is better than all the U.S. Presidents before him since Lyndon Baines Johnson, all of whom did nothing.

How To Profit From A Random Stranger's Death

     If you were rich and powerful, and you stood to profit if lots of people died suddenly, what sort of decisions do you think you'd make about things like toxic waste dumps and war?  Wall St. wheeler/dealers have cooked up just such a scheme, I guess they want to find out, too.

     What Could Go Wrong?

The NY Times, Pollyannas to the end, it seems, don't even consider that it might be a bad idea to have the rich and powerful have a stake in the making sure poorer people die quickly.  Not even a flit on their fucking radar.

     Eliot Spitzer, like he was with sub-prime mortgages, was out ahead of this issue in 2006, since it turns out part of the business of convincing seniors to sell their life insurance policies has tons of opportunity for predatory behavior.

Socialist vs Socialism, There Is A Difference!

     In that, according to graphs I generated at Capitol Words, the word socialist has been bandied about with fairly constant frequency by politicians over the last seven years, while the word "socialism" is at its period peak:

Really?

     Really?  In 1909 Hitler played Lenin at chess?  Hitler's art teacher drew the event?  Both men who would become dictators signed the back?  It's coming up for auction?  Yes to all:




(h/t A Blog About History)

Josh's Life Advice for Young Adults: Learn a Foreign Language

     You basically cannot learn a foreign language after 16 as you can before.

     Which one should you learn?  Arabic or Farsi will help the most with world peace, which all of us are going to have to appreciate, at least a little.  French and Italian are the prettiest.  Spanish is the #2 language in America (where I suspect most of my readers reside).  Chinese is the most widely spoken language on Earth.  Latin and Greek both have special places in academia.  Sanskrit, if you consider Panini, is undeniably special.  Most of the Slavic languages are inter-intelligible, so if you learn Russian, you cover a lot of the world.  Or, you might consider learning German, just to read Hegel and Goethe in the original.

Josh's Diet Advice #1: Your Sense of Thirst

     I am lucky in that I work with some very smart people.  Scuttlebutt around the office is that the human sense of thirst is particularly indistinct, or poor.  What they say is that sometimes you feel hungry, you are actually thirsty, your body just isn't good at distinguishing it.

     So, each time you are hungry, drink a glass of water (6 ounces should do) and wait 15 minutes.  If you are still hungry, then eat.